The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos

There was a time when “universe” meant all there is. Everything. Yet, in recent years discoveries in physics and cosmology have led a number of scientists to conclude that our universe may be one among many. With crystal-clear prose and inspired use of analogy, Brian Greene shows how a range of different “multiverse” proposals emerges from theories developed to explain the most refined observations of both subatomic particles and the dark depths of space.

The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality

Space and time form the very fabric of the cosmos. Yet they remain among the most mysterious of concepts. Is space an entity? Why does time have a direction? Could the universe exist without space and time? Can we travel to the past?

Light Falls: Space, Time, and an Obsession of Einstein

Best-selling author, superstar physicist, and cofounder of the World Science Festival Brian Greene (The Elegant Universe, The Fabric of the Cosmos) and an ensemble cast led by award-winning actor Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) perform this dramatic story tracing Albert Einstein's discovery of the general theory of relativity.

A dazzling tour of the universe as Einstein saw it. How did Albert Einstein come up with the theories that changed the way we look at the world? By thinking in pictures. Michio Kaku, leading theoretical physicist (a cofounder of string theory) and best-selling science storyteller, shows how Einstein used seemingly simple images to lead a revolution in science. With originality and expertise, Kaku uncovers the surprising beauty that lies at the heart of Einstein's cosmos

A Brief History of Time

This landmark book is for those of us who prefer words to equations; this is the story of the ultimate quest for knowledge, the ongoing search for the secrets at the heart of time and space. Its author, Stephen W. Hawking, is arguably the greatest mind since Einstein. From the vantage point of the wheelchair, where he has spent the last 20 years trapped by Lou Gehrig's disease, Professor Hawking has transformed our view of the universe. A Brief History of Time is Hawking's classic introduction to today's most important scientific ideas.

The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself

Already internationally acclaimed for his elegant, lucid writing on the most challenging notions in modern physics, Sean Carroll is emerging as one of the greatest humanist thinkers of his generation as he brings his extraordinary intellect to bear not only on the Higgs boson and extra dimensions but now also on our deepest personal questions. Where are we? Who are we? Are our emotions, our beliefs, and our hopes and dreams ultimately meaningless out there in the void?

Quantum: A Guide for the Perplexed

From Schrodinger's cat to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, this book untangles the weirdness of the quantum world. Quantum mechanics underpins modern science and provides us with a blueprint for reality itself. And yet it has been said that if you're not shocked by it, you don't understand it. But is quantum physics really so unknowable? Is reality really so strange? And just how can cats be half alive and half dead at the same time?

Max Tegmark leads us on an astonishing journey through past, present and future, and through the physics, astronomy, and mathematics that are the foundation of his work, most particularly his hypothesis that our physical reality is a mathematical structure and his theory of the ultimate multiverse. In a dazzling combination of both popular and groundbreaking science, he not only helps us grasp his often mind-boggling theories, but he also shares with us some of the often surprising triumphs and disappointments that have shaped his life as a scientist.

Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos

In Parallel Worlds, world-renowned physicist and best-selling author Michio Kaku - an author who "has a knack for bringing the most ethereal ideas down to earth" (Wall Street Journal) - takes listeners on a fascinating tour of cosmology, M-theory, and its implications for the fate of the universe.

The Grand Design

The most fundamental questions about the origins of the universe and of life itself, once the province of philosophy, now occupy the territory where scientists, philosophers, and theologians meet—if only to disagree. In their new book, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow present the most recent scientific thinking about the mysteries of the universe, in nontechnical language marked by both brilliance and simplicity.

Now: The Physics of Time - and the Ephemeral Moment That Einstein Could Not Explain

You are reading the word now right now. But what does that mean? What makes the ephemeral moment now so special? Its enigmatic character has bedeviled philosophers, priests, and modern-day physicists from Augustine to Einstein and beyond. Einstein showed that the flow of time is affected by both velocity and gravity, yet he despaired at his failure to explain the meaning of now. Equally puzzling: Why does time flow? Some physicists have given up trying to understand and call the flow of time an illusion.

Manish Kataria says:"A book with good beginning that fizzles out in end"

Einstein's Relativity and the Quantum Revolution: Modern Physics for Non-Scientists, 2nd Edition

"It doesn't take an Einstein to understand modern physics," says Professor Wolfson at the outset of these 24 lectures on what may be the most important subjects in the universe: relativity and quantum physics. Both have reputations for complexity. But the basic ideas behind them are, in fact, simple and comprehensible by anyone. These dynamic and illuminating lectures begin with a brief overview of theories of physical reality starting with Aristotle and culminating in Newtonian or "classical" physics.

Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration

One hundred years ago, scientists would have said that lasers, televisions, and the atomic bomb were beyond the realm of physical possibility. In Physics of the Impossible, the renowned physicist Michio Kaku explores to what extent the technologies and devices of science fiction that are deemed equally impossible today might well become commonplace in the future.

The Theory of Everything: The Origin and Fate of the Universe

Hawking takes us on a fascinating journey through the telescopic lens of modern physics to gain a new glimpse of the universe--the nature of black holes, the space-time continuum, and new information about the origin of the universe. He uses this scientific basis to come up with a "unified theory of everything" that the author claims will be "the ultimate triumph of human reason."

The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind

For the first time in history, the secrets of the living brain are being revealed by a battery of high-tech brain scans devised by physicists. Now what was once solely the province of science fiction has become a startling reality. Recording memories, telepathy, videotaping our dreams, mind control, avatars, and telekinesis are not only possible; they already exist.

Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution

Origins explains the soul-stirring leaps in our understanding of the cosmos. From the first image of a galaxy birth to Spirit rover's exploration of Mars, to the discovery of water on one of Jupiter's moons, coauthors Neil deGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith conduct a galvanizing tour of the cosmos with clarity and exuberance.

The Universe in Your Hand: A Journey Through Space, Time, and Beyond

Christophe Galfard's mission in life is to spread modern scientific ideas to the general public in entertaining ways. Using his considerable skills as a brilliant theoretical physicist and successful young-adult author, The Universe in Your Hand employs the immediacy of simple, direct language to show us, not explain to us, the theories that underpin everything we know about our universe.

Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100

In Physics of the Future, Michio Kaku—the New York Times best-selling author of Physics of the Impossible—gives us a stunning, provocative, and exhilarating vision of the coming century based on interviews with over 300 of the world’s top scientists who are already inventing the future in their labs. The result is the most authoritative and scientifically accurate description of revolutionary developments taking place....

The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know

As recently as 1990, it seemed plausible that the solar system was a unique phenomenon in our galaxy. Thanks to advances in technology and clever new uses of existing data, now we know that planetary systems and possibly even a new Earth can be found throughout galaxies near and far.

Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology

Life is the most extraordinary phenomenon in the known universe; but how did it come to be? Even in an age of cloning and artificial biology, the remarkable truth remains: Nobody has ever made anything living entirely out of dead material. Life remains the only way to make life. Are we still missing a vital ingredient in its creation?

Origins: The Scientific Story of Creation

What is the nature of the material world? How does it work? What is the universe and how was it formed? What is life? Where do we come from and how did we evolve? How and why do we think? What does it mean to be human? How do we know? There are many different versions of our creation story. This book tells the version according to modern science. It is a unique account, starting at the Big Bang and travelling right up to the emergence of humans as conscious intelligent beings, 13.8 billion years later.

The God Delusion

Discover magazine recently called Richard Dawkins "Darwin's Rottweiler" for his fierce and effective defense of evolution. Prospect magazine voted him among the top three public intellectuals in the world (along with Umberto Eco and Noam Chomsky). Now Dawkins turns his considerable intellect on religion, denouncing its faulty logic and the suffering it causes.

The Universe in a Nutshell

With characteristic exuberance, Stephen Hawking invites us to be fellow travelers on this extraordinary voyage through spacetime, as he seeks "to combine Einstein's General Theory of Relativity and Richard Feynman's idea of multiple histories into one complete unified theory that will describe everything that happens in the universe."

Spooky Action at a Distance: The Phenomenon That Reimagines Space and Time-and What It Means for Black Holes, the Big Bang, and Theories of Everything

What is space? It isn't a question that most of us normally stop to ask. Space is the venue of physics; it's where things exist, where they move and take shape. Yet over the past few decades, physicists have discovered a phenomenon that operates outside the confines of space and time. The phenomenon - the ability of one particle to affect another instantly across the vastness of space - appears to be almost magical.

Publisher's Summary

In a rare blend of scientific insight and writing as elegant as the theories it explains, one of the world's leading string theorists peels away the layers of mystery surrounding string theory to reveal a universe that consists of 11 dimensions where the fabric of space tears and repairs itself, and all matter-from the smallest quarks to the most gargantuan supernovas-is generated by the vibrations of microscopically tiny loops of energy.

Brian Greene uses everything from an amusement park ride to ants on a garden hose to illustrate the beautiful yet bizarre realities that modern physics is unveiling.

Dazzling in its brilliance, unprecedented in its ability to both illuminate and entertain, The Elegant Universe is a tour de force of science writing-a delightful, lucid voyage through modern physics that brings us closer than ever to understanding how the universe works.

What the Critics Say

"The Elegant Universe is compulsively readable.... Greene threatens to do for string theory what Stephen Hawking did for black holes." (New York)"[Greene] develops one fresh new insight after another...In the great tradition of physicists writing for the masses, The Elegant Universe sets a standard that will be hard to beat." (George Johnson, The New York Times Book Review)"[An] important book.... The Elegant Universe presents the ideas and aspirations-and some of the characters-of string theory with clarity and charm." (Scientific American)

The Elegant Universe is very well written. The author gives good examples and analogies to better understand the complex thematic.

The narrator was an excellent choice. His voice is very smooth and calm and the narration is very well paced, so that you can easily follow and concentrate on the content.

A little criticism goes however to the production. First, as already mentioned, this book is complex and you need to concentrate on what is being said. Now, imagine being deeply in thought and suddenly there is a big explosion. The producer thought it would be a great idea to put "Big Bang" explosion sounds in between the chapters which is very annoying and disrupts the concentration. It could even make you jump since you do not know when the chapter ends unless you are reading along with the book.
Second, there are a lot of names of scientists from all over the world. I wish the pronunciation of these names would have been researched better. For example, the German physicist Karl Schwarzschild, was pronounced throughout the book as "Schwarz(s)-child", instead of "Schwarz-schild" (engl. for shield), although the correct division of the word can be found also in the book. To me this was quite irritating and lessened my concentration on the actual content.

Due to the complexity of the book some parts might need to be listened to more than once, especially if this is not your field of expertise.

This is an excellent book covering the newest of theories Physics has to offer. However it is not as approachable as Hawking's books is my guess. I understood it even if a few sections had to be reviewed more than once but I imagine a person with less comfort in the subject might get overwhelmed and not really understand.

He mentions that he wrote this book for the retiree who didn't have time while working to understand the new advances in physics. I was that guy. He does a great job. I've listened to his other books and am amazed how he goes to great pains and creates new analogies in explaining complex physical principals. Each of his books stand on their own and he avoids repetition.

The book will excite you about string theory, but you will be dismayed by the current lack of progress in string theory since the book was originally written.

I graduated as an engineer in Chemistry and luckily had a bit of quantum chemistry. Therefore, I could more or less follow the part on Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Field Theory. The preceding chapters on relativity were sort of easy going. Once the part on string theory started (at about 25% of the book) things rapidly become more complicated with descriptions of multidimensional geometries and behaviours of these dimensions. Apparently the strings moving and oscillating inside these dimensions are restricted in their motion due to the geometry while its motion(s) determine mass, electric charge and other physical characteristics. As string theory is as yet purely theoretical, it is very very difficult to follow for non-experts like myself and close to impossible to comprehend the practical implications. Still, quite interesting to get an idea of what contemporary theoretical physicists are working on

Where does The Elegant Universe rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the best books covering really hard subjects I've every read. If physics is something you longed to understand, you will not put this one down.

What other book might you compare The Elegant Universe to and why?

I don't have

What does Erik Davies bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Erik Davies is gifted with a voice that gives credence to Greene's narrative. He sounds excited about what he's saying. And his inflections get you excited about learning about some pretty high topics.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not at all - not in one sitting. Unless you are a theoretical or other physicist, then you have to be willing to read this text over and over until the material becomes intuitive.But no worries. The fun analogies make returning again and again down right addictive. Physics, anyone?

Any additional comments?

This book was recommended to me, as a way to understand the difficult subject - physics. It was one of the best recommendations I've ever received. Green wants us to know about physics and share his knowledge, which is why this book is so darn good.It's like a great cook, who works very hard to make sure the flavors are perfect.

Start with Grand Design, then Briefer History of Time by Hawking and follow up with Elegant Universe and you have the best summary of Quantum Physics available for non-physicists. (Whitten is the only one who understands Quantum Mechanics anyhow, so they say :).

The fist 1/3 of this book have the best explanation for special and general relativity that I have every heard. I finally feel I understand the reasoning behind those concepts. The rest of the book is a little harder to keep up with. It seems like Mr. Green was a little to close to the problem to do as good a job in his layman&#8217;s descriptions as he did for Einstein's work. Or, maybe those older concepts are just better understood by the physicists themselves, I couldn't tell.

I have a science background, but I'm neither a physicist nor am I a mathematician. Brian Greene has a gift for clear easy-to-understand explanations of both physical principles and the complex mathematics of string theory. I have previously read this book and two others that he has written. Eric Davies reads with clarity and just the right emphasis to promote understanding.

This and Greene's other book THE FABRIC OF THE COSMOS are almost masterpieces. To be able to convey such complex ideas so succesfuly is a triumph. Others have tried to ride the wave created by his books but they dont compare. PBS has made big specials out of both these books which says alot. See my other review on cosmos

I am a former physicist and I listen to books to and from work as a professional photographer. There was a lot to learn if you have not kept up with quantum mechanics. I had to back it up 10 min or so every so often as my brain could not take in all the information at the speed it was given. The guy knows his stuff and puts it in logical order but you can't (I can't) grasp it as fast as he speaks it, especially when you are listening to it instead of reading it.